Pretoria - The fate of a Grade 1 child depends on her biological mother and her partner undergoing hair follicle tests to establish whether they were still using drugs and to determine where the child should stay.
The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, earlier ordered the mother and partner to undergo the test, after the child’s biological father applied for custody as he claimed the mother and her partner were abusing drugs.
The mother ignored the order and the father again turned to the court for custody.
The mother, who lives in Pretoria East with her new lover, told the court that she could not afford to go for the test, as she earned a pittance working at her partner’s business.
But she was caught out on social media and pictures of her bragging about lavish gifts from her lover were handed to court.
The court earlier ordered that the family advocate had to investigate the mother’s circumstances,.
This included a hair follicle test, also known as a hair drug test, where a small amount of hair is removed from the head and tested, to screen whether the person had used drugs during the 90 days before the test.
As the mother did not comply, the father returned to court to obtain custody until the mother had subjected herself and her lover to the test, and pending the recommendation by the family advocate as to where the child should live.
The child is still with the mother.
The family advocate’s office told the court it was impossible to finalise investigations as to what was in the best interest of the child because the mother said she could not afford the hair follicle test. Without the results of this test, it was impossible to recommend where the child should stay, the court was told.
Acting Judge N Ndlokovane said the allegations were “very serious”, and said the mother and her lover had to subject themselves to the hair test. The judge gave them 30 days to do so.
She rejected the mother’s “poverty” claims for not having done so.
“There is sufficient evidence demonstrating the respondent’s (mother) financial situation is being downplayed,” the judge said. She referred to Facebook posts submitted to court: “This suggests an elegant and lavish lifestyle.”
She noted that, in one of the pictures, the mother showed off a very expensive watch from her lover.
“This is suggesting a lifestyle of a person who lives above the poverty line, not the one described in her papers, who ‘merely’ earns a monthly salary of R10 000,” the judge said.
Pretoria News